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SoundTigersFan50

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Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 12, 2022 at 11:51 a.m.
Forum: Armchair-GMJul. 11, 2022 at 2:18 p.m.
Thread: If Gaudreau is not about the money
I'm starting to wonder if the fact that not that many contenders can find a way to fit Gaudreau will work in the Islanders' favor? Quick spin around the league:

Arizona/Seattle/San Jose/Columbus/Chicago are unlikely to go after a big fish like Gaudreau (5 down, 26 to go!)

Tampa/Minnesota/Florida/NYR/Vegas/St. Louis/Nasvhille/Toronto/Caps/Kings/Bruins/Habs/Flyers/Canucks/Oilers/Jets/Dallas/Penguins either don't have the cap room in general or are very unlikely to sign another $9M forward (23 teams out! 8 besides NYI left!)

I'd put Buffalo/Detroit/Ottawa/Anaheim as possible but very unlikely destinations. They're all close enough to being contenders that I could potentially see one of them making a pitch and Gaudreau signing there, but it's a big longshot (4 left!)

Final Four: Colorado, Carolina, New Jersey, Calgary

Avs - I feel like they pass because they have to be careful with money for MacKinnon's deal next season. Not saying it's a 0% chance, but it would be surprising to see Sakic make that movie.

Hurricanes: Usually a team with an internal budget but one I could see being a dark horse candidate - they've gotta fill out the bottom half of their D corps but the top half is strong as hell, and they're gaining a ton of space over the next two years. Gaudreau could easily slide in next to Sebastian Aho and make this team an absolute beast to deal with. Surprised that it's not being talked about more, but again the Canes' internal budget might be holding that back.

Devils: He's from Jersey, but south Jersey - closer to Philly than NYC metro where the Devils play. They definitely have the cap room and should rightfully be considered one of the main suitors for Gaudreau but there hasn't been a lot of noise connecting them to him.

Calgary: Should be the favorite, apparently has an 8x$9.5M offer on the table. At the end of the day, I think he takes that - any other team would have to offer about 7x$10.8M to match the dollars in that deal, and I could see that making any of these suitor blanche. But if it's not about he money, and he's looking for a place to win, is there really that much of a difference between, say, $65 and 75 million at the end of the day? Especially if you move to a larger market than Calgary and get more potential for sponsorship and endorsement deals? It's gonna be a fun couple days from now til Wednesday, for sure.